Colony
by prometheus246
Summary: Earth has fallen. The human race is left broken and scattered. The few that remain are spread throughout the galaxy. Sam is in charge of one colony and trying to keep the people she has alive and safe while also desperately clinging onto hope.JS Ch3 repos
1. Chapter 1

Colony

Writer:prometheus246

Rating: T+

Pairing J/S

Chapter 1

The first thing Sam heard every morning was the loud alarm from her laptop that sat on top of the large tin trunk by the door to her room. She never kept the alarm by her bed because, this way she actually had to get out of bed to shut the damn thing off, so wasn't able to simply hit 'snooze' and roll over. Very occasionally she had stopped just short of finding something heavy within arms reach, that she could throw at it – her private ambition.

This time was the same as countless others. As soon as the alarm penetrated her dreams she rolled onto her back and groaned loudly. Her eyes clamped shut and her arm flung over her face she allowed herself a brief moment of irritation before forcing herself out of bed to cross the freezing, dark room and shut it off.

She stretched her neck out, almost laughing at the loud cracks from her vertebrae. She rolled her shoulders and flexed her fingers. Gently loosening all her muscles, one set at a time until she felt completely in command of her body again. When she relaxed, she shivered against the cold that invaded her barely covered flesh.

Making her way to a small foot locker against the opposite wall, a whole two strides away, at the foot of her bed, she crouched to pull out some clothes that would keep out the chill slightly better than the boxer shorts and tank top she slept in.

Two minutes later, she walked through her office to the outside door and stepped out into the chilly early morning. The wind was brisk and she could see the scrubby trees higher up the slopes of the mountain being buffeted by the gusts of cold air rolling in from the ocean a few miles away. She paused for a moment, on her way to breakfast to look out past the edge of the precipice, over the tops of the trees towards the horizon. On a clearer day you could see the blue line of the coast.

"Sam!" She didn't need to look round. After a few seconds she was joined in her sightseeing as usual by her closest friend. He stood, hands in pockets staring at the same scenery, thinking his own set of thoughts. After a moment Sam turned to smile at him.

"Morning Daniel... Coffee?"

"Toast?"

"If I must."

"You must." He grinned cheekily at her as they set off across the stony ground. Sam rolled her eyes at his antics and tucked her hands into her pockets away from the cold as they walked to breakfast in the gray pre-dawn

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

Ten minutes later, Sam sat across from Daniel at their usual table in the crowded commissary building. The warm air was filled with the smell of coffee and frying fat. The thin walls shook occasionally against steel brackets, the noise of the wind almost drowned out by the general chaos. Sam was on her second coffee, nibbling unenthusiastically at a piece of toast under Daniel's watchful gaze.

"You know Daniel - _You_ used to live on coffee."

"Yeah yeah, whatever, now eat!" She raised her toast in a comic salute.

"Yes sir!" She forced two thirds of the slice down her throat, downed the rest of her coffee before standing to deposit her cup. On her way through the crowd and around tables, people made a path for her, nodding respectfully and wishing her a good morning. She nodded to each of them but wished that just once in a while she could walk through a crowd without everybody knowing her. She missed the ability to be anonymous when she wanted to.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a giggle and a small person running into her legs. She quickly steadied the little girl who was about to topple from the momentum of her impact with Sam.

"Sorry Ma'am." the girl offered, before her attention was once again on the mischievous looking boy chasing her through the jungle of adults. She giggled and hid behind Sam for a second. The boy looked bewildered at her sudden disappearance until another giggle alerted him to her whereabouts and the pair took off into the throng again, Sam watching them go.

They were the first generation. They were special, but they didn't know it.

The majority of the people who had arrived here on board Prometheus were adult. There had been some children, now teenagers. In the chaos that had preceded the destruction of Earth, young children and the elderly had stood little chance.

The Prometheus, along with the Odyssey and Korelev had landed briefly in several cities, taking on board who they could accommodate, while defending itself against attacks from the hundreds of death gliders. Sam and Daniel had been among the SGC staff who had ended up on the ship, trying, along with other air force and military personnel to keep some kind of order as people jostled each other, each trying to get their loved ones to safety. Sam remembered that that day had brought forth both the very best and worst of human nature.

The scenes that replayed in the minds of anyone who had survived the end of the human race on Earth were horrific, but not only because of the panic and violence but also because of the selfless acts of sacrifices they had seen made by some nameless individuals.

When the time for resistance had gone and the only option left for any remaining factions was to flee, the Prometheus had jumped to hyperspace. After almost an hour they developed engine trouble, caused by damage from glider blasts. Major Metburn, who had been in command at the time ordered that they shut down the hyperspace generator, until It could be fixed.

His decision was contested by many of his staff since they were still within the Milky Way and still, as far as they knew, being pursued by gliders and Ha'tak vessels. Ba'al was not about to underestimate the damage a few rogue Tau'ri left roaming around the galaxy could do.

Sam had worked with the resident engineers in the engine room of the Prometheus for 2 days, until two Ha'tak appeared on the radar and Metburn made the decision to make one last jump into hyperspace. The engines burned out minutes later, depositing them just outside the atmosphere of one of the inner planets of an unknown solar system. The sudden effect of gravity on the already fragile sub-light engines sent the ship into a spinning dive, until it crashed sideways into a forest on a mountainside, near the ocean.

Major Metburn was among the dozens who died in the crash and among the billions who had died overall.

When the sun rose, after hours in the dark, listening the the cries of mourning civilians, Sam emerged from the ship to a group of people dressed in varying military uniform saluting her and awaiting instructions. She had to admit that the fact that she was now the highest ranking officer left alive had completely evaded her and she stood bewildered for a moment until Daniel emerged from the group and after giving her a tight hug told her softly:

"Come on Sam, there are people depending on us." She had never been more grateful to hear the word 'us' in her entire life.

Now, five years later, Sam stood on the edge of a small but thriving colony. There were children, receiving daily lessons from trained teachers. Each person had a job to do and each person did their share. The landscape, though rough and not particularly sheltered was beautiful. They had power, thanks to a generator built in the nearby river. The were working on having a better hot water supply and justs recently they had unearthed an X-302 from the section of the Prometheus that had been buried in the earth since the crash.

There was a real chance of life here. People could live and grow and socialise and learn. Friendships had flourished and a family had been built. Sam and Daniel had made it their mission, with the help of the people around them to build a future for the people here, who as far as they knew, could be the last surviving humans from Earth.

Nobody had given up hope entirely of finding other survivors. Everybody had loved ones whom they missed but the topic was not regularly broached. Sam had set up a system, which sent sporadic radio messages on various frequencies but, they were sent very irregularly, to avoid alerting any more of Ba'al's ships of their presence here and so far, their attempts had proved fruitless.

They had not had the resources to continue the work of the SGC, as some of the military officers had wanted. The extensive exploration of their new home planet had so far yielded no Stargate and Sam had not been able to find a reference to one in the Prometheus' data bank. She had been determined to focus on the survival of the people left alive, rather than further exploration at that point. They were still extremely vulnerable here and could not afford to spread their resources too thinly. Now however, with the X-302, they may be able to spread their wings a little further. The possibility of finding more survivors on another nearby planet, had filled her with a tense energy since the X-302 had been discovered. If she could get it to work... She stopped momentarily at her office, to collect some tools and her laptop before setting of on the hike to the Prometheus crash site. She wanted to get a look at the progress on the second X-302 launch bay excavation as well as do some further work on the glider.

Sam lay on her back,shaded from the midday sun, under the front end of the X-302, tinkering with the interior workings. So far, she had engines working and if it still had wheels, it could be driven around on the ground but had no way of taking off. The circuit board controlling engine burn during takeoff and landing was fried. Sam had fitted a new one and was trying to figure out a way to connect the two somewhat different systems together; the spare circuit board had been taken from one of Prometheus' damaged computer banks and was slightly too small for the space allotted, as well as being designed in completely different ways: control of the X-302 was mainly based on crystal energy:now a precious commodity.

Ben Winson, a chemist who's wife has been killed in the crash five years ago, was now stood in front of a steel table in a tent on the edge of the cleared area of forest around the enormous ship: the likes of which he never dreamed he'd see before the day his wife died. He held a test tube in shaking hands;studying the compound inside carefully, he held it up to the dappled light._ Please._ Setting the test tube in a rack on the table, he carefully attached a pipette into the rubber end of a battery operated controller. He measured out the exact amount of liquid from a flask, slowly adding it to the test tube, making sure no drops escaped. He replaced the bung;shook the tube and turned away from the bench;taking a sample of the compound in a sample jar and slotting it into their one and only mass spectrometer. Pushing the buttons, he began the process and drummed his fingers on his leg, waiting nervously for the machine to finish ionizing, accelerating, deflecting and detecting particles until it finally beeped. Ben quickly hit the print button and moved to the printer on the opposite side of the tent to pick up the results. As soon as the sheet hit the tray, it was in Ben's hands. He scanned the page quickly, searching for one particular line on the graph.

"Come on, come on...YES!" He sprinted from the tent.

As Sam lay on her back, her hands raised above her head, up to her elbows in electronics, her mind began to wander. To people she used to know. The thing that everybody here had had to get used to, was not knowing. Not knowing whether people had escaped earth; not knowing what happened to those who hadn't; not knowing who had escaped,if anyone; not knowing whether they had survived this long; not knowing whether they would ever see them again. But worst of all was not knowing how to feel about all this:whether to continue to cling to the hope; or to cherish their memory and move on.

Ben crouched down to where Sam lay, ducked his head under the hatch of the control panel, to see what she was working on.

"How's it going?" Sam let out a yelp. The piece of wire she was soldering tore free of it's coupling and a drop of solder fell with a hiss onto her bare arm.

"Shit!" She scrambled out from under the hatch, grabbing her water bottle to pour cold water on the burn, gritting her teeth.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I—have good news."

Once the pain had subsided to a dull stinging, Sam put the bottle back on the ground.

"It's alright. I was just concentrating on something else and I didn't realise you were there."

Ben stared at her as she gathered herself together. "Uh—What's the good news?" She waved at the sheet in his hand.

"Oh! We did it! We managed a reaction that made enough naquadah! We can start mass producing it as soon as we have all the equipment set up."

"That's great! Fantastic, that's one less thing between now and when we can finally get this thing flying." She patted the X-302 as if it were a dog. Ben still stood grinning. "Uh... why don't you go write it all up for me?" She added hopefully.

"Oh right." Ben seemed to notice he was still grinning and shook his head sheepishly. "I'll get it to you by dinner."

She nodded "Thanks Ben. I can't tell you how great this is." The awkward silence was interrupted by Sam's radio:

"Sam!? You There?"

"Yeah Daniel, go ahead." Amongst the crackling of the radio, raised voices could be heard. Both Sam and Ben leaned close, trying to hear hat Daniel was saying. The bad quality of suggested that he was a good distance from them.

"...accident...the water..." Ben caught Sam's eye, his face showing similar trepidation to her own.

"Can you repeat Daniel?" Nothing but static.

"What do you think's happened?" Sam didn't know and did not want to worry the man by speculating.

"I don't know. I'm gonna go check it out though. If anybody needs me, I'm on my way to the river. Daniel was going to check on things there this morning." She set off at a sprint.

The water for the whole community came from the small river that ran downhill on the opposite side of the compound to the woods. One of the first things Sam put into motion when they had arrived here was the acquisition of a good water supply and ways of channeling, purifying and utilising it. The result was a 12 foot water wheel, which raised water into the first of two tanks where it was sterilised before it passed into the collection tank where each household could collect their days supply of water for drinking or cooking, if they chose, though most families ate in the commissary building and also for washing. Though the small population of the colony and the ready supply of water meant that there was plenty to spare; two men were responsible for monitoring the wheel, the tanks and distribution. So far the system had worked.

Jogging across the open space in the centre of the colony, with the head wind slowing her down and drying her eyeballs, Sam wished for a motorbike, or just some means of transport quicker than running, for traveling from one side of the compound to the other in a hurry.

Crossing onto the stretch of grass between the outer buildings and the river, Sam could see from a distance that all was not as it should be. She could_ not _see the usual few people relaxing, entertaining children by the water and the familiar figures of Barney and Kenny, chatting with people who arrived to collect water and wandering between the wheel and tanks, taking their regular inspection very seriously though the design was simple and near enough fool proof. What she could see was the choppy spray of the water lifted by the wind, arcing into the air in icy waves and dampening the grass. She could also see a knot of adults and children stood huddled, in a circle around a figure, prone on the ground. Sam could not recognise the figure but Barney's white comb over and Daniel's worried features were unmistakable.

The group parted easily when she arrived, breaking their circle of protection to allow her access to the man on the ground. Despite the cold, sweat glistened on Kenny's bald head and his lips were turning blue. No older than 40, he had experienced stress related hair loss as a teenager but his keen blue eyes usually gave him a striking appearance none-the-less. He and Barney had formed a tight friendship that spanned the 20 years between them with no problem. Both quiet and reserved they understood each other perfectly and since neither had any family here, Sam was very glad that they had both found some companionship.

Barney knelt beside Kenny now, squeezing his shoulder. Daniel crouched at knee level, applying pressure to a pad of gauze pressed just below the man's ribs. Blood was beginning to seep out from underneath the gauze.

"What happened Daniel?" Her voice was sharp and she did not look at him, focused as she was on how wrong Kenny's breathing sounded. Pressing her fingers to his pulse point, she scowled at his racing heartbeat.

"The wind ripped a panel loose from the wheel. It caught him in the ribs. I can't figure it out Sam. It's not just a case of blood loss – something else is wrong. I thought it might be a punctured lung but I wouldn't know what to do."

"He can't breathe properly." Barney's southern accent was more pronounced in his anxiety. He looked desperately up at Sam but she avoided his gaze.

"Let me see." She crouched as Daniel lifted the cloth away. The puncture was small and much less messy than she had expected from a rogue, wind-borne piece of metal. "It must just have been the corner that got him." She pressed her fingers around the wound with extreme caution.

"Why can't he breathe?" Sam shifted onto her knees so that she was able to lean in close over the hole with her ear. A staccato hissing told her what was wrong.

"I need somebody to fetch Allan." Once one of the young mothers in the group had left at a jog to find the doctor, Sam leaned over again in the hope that she had imagined the sound the first time she heard it. She hadn't. The corner of the panel had pierced cleanly through Kenny's skin and then his upper abdominal cavity. Air was now being sucked into the wound from the surroundings, offsetting the delicate balance of pressure between the lungs and the surrounding space, which dictates a person's breathing. One lung had probably collapsed due to the surrounding pressure and Kenny was finding it harder and harder to breathe as time passed.

Sam sat back, her face set. There was little she could do but to stop more air entering the wound. Daniel pressing on the man's chest had probably not helped but that was water under under the bridge now. She almost scoffed out loud as the analogy sprang to mind. Cliche.

"Sam?" Daniel was holding the pathetic excuse for a first aid kit out to her. She took it doubting anything in the box would be of use to her. _Tension _ _pneumothorax__ – there's a trick! _

"Barney – keep talking to him, try to keep him awake." Barney nodded curtly, squeezing his friends hand and muttering thing's like 'You'll be ok buddy.' while Sam got to work. Daniel too seemed encouraged by her apparent brainwave.

"What can I do?" She threw him a roll of medical tape and some scissors, instructing him to cut three pieces of about ten centimetres. Sam grabbed the clear, plastic wrapping that lay discarded in the kit from Daniel opening the gauze. She used her knife to cut a rough square and placing it over the small hole between Kenny's ribs, she took the pieces of taped as Daniel passed them to her; taping three side of the plastic to the skin and leaving the bottom edge of the square open. She made sure the plastic was secure as she could make it and sat back.

As if they were the audience of a television hospital drama the surrounding onlookers leaned in closer to see what Sam had done. What miracle had she conjured this time? The apprehensive silence was filled by the periodic rustle of plastic packaging as the clear cellophane stuck over the bloody skin alternately was sucked tight against the flesh as pressure inside the wound dropped lower than that on the outside and then blew out with a rustle as air was blown from the puncture. The one-way valve created by the plastic, effectively worked to equalise the pressure and make it easier for the patient to breathe. Though it y no means fixed the problem, it acted as a stop-gap until proper treatment could be given.

When 'Doctor Allan' arrived, Sam filled him in on what she had done, as Kenny was loaded onto the stretcher and carried by volunteers to the small infirmary.

"Sam, can I have a word?" Doctor Allan sought out Sam at dinner that night. He found her poring over a bowl of stew at her usual table with a chipper looking Daniel. The doctor was one of the population of civilians who had taken Sam's request to be called by her first name, to heart.

"Sure." Sam pushed her bowl away from her and stood from the table. She nodded politely to the smiling faces she passed on her way out of the commissary wishing she had found a good enough excuse to skip dinner or eat in her quarters tonight. News of her 'miracle patch' had spread like wildfire as news tended to do.

Allan stopped once out of the building and stood stamping his feet against the cold until Sam joined him. The wind had given way to a frosty chill but could still be heard in the trees a short distance away.

"I wanted to congratulate you." He smiled slightly through chattering teeth. "What you did for Kenny probably saved his life – otherwise he probably would have died before we got him back." Sam broke into a grin. Random congratulations from people who had not been there and just saw her as some kind of 'Jim'll Fix It' meant nothing but to hear this, made her heart actually lift.

"So he's going to be fine then? You know, I wasn't sure he was going to make it but--?" She stopped, because Allan's smile had gone. "What?" The doctor tried to avoid her stare.

"There was a lot of blood lost and it looks like the wound may be infected from the metal. ...There's still hope." He added quickly as the major's shoulders slumped. "But...I have to be realistic – we don't have the medication to fight any serious kind of infection."

Sam mentally kicked herself. She had been making rocket fuel when what they needed was antibiotics – so desperate for their little group to not be alone in the universe. _Fuck the naquadah! _"Can I see him?"

"Barney's with him at the moment. Stop by after dinner." He patted her shoulder before turning away and striding away in the direction of the infirmary.

By midnight, Kenny was dead. Allan found Sam still awake in her office, when he came to deliver the news. She sat for several minutes after he had left, feeling the sting of tears but also feeling completely numb. After a while, she stood and stormed from the room, into the wind, the door banging shut behind her.

She stayed as still as possible, not wanting any sound to interrupt the perfect stillness of the night. She loved the view of the stars from here. Because the ground dropped away at her feet and she was divided from the lights and sounds of the camp by the steel wall behind her, there was nothing to interrupt the expanse of the night sky. Though the constellations were not the ones she knew, they were beautiful and this was one of the rare moments of peace she allowed herself.

A weight settled across her back, warming her. She snapped her head around, startled at the intrusion into her solitude. Daniel draped the heavy jacket further over her shoulders and stood behind her silently. His heart bled for his friend.

"Don't leave it too late Sam." He saw her nod, though she made no other acknowledgment of his words. He turned back toward the camp. Even after five years, few of it's inhabitants had been able to call it 'home' - only the children. Once his footsteps had disappeared Sam inhaled deeply and the scent of her loneliness overwhelmed her.

This jacket was her guilty pleasure. It was all she had of him and it made her feel that bit safer, wearing it. Though she didn't wear it often. His smell still lingered in the aged leather and one of her greatest fears was that it would eventually disappear. Pulling it more tightly around her, she buried her face in the collar, remembering for the umpteenth time, the last time she'd seen her colonel.

_Flashback: She had stayed on base, the previous evening, worked late – nothing unusual about that. As soon as the first attacks began, she was in the control room, barking orders over the speakers; doing her best to figure out how this had happened, just like everybody else. No warning, no mercy. _

_Within an hour, it was clear that this was no small scale barrage. People had to be evacuated. There was no way the Stargate programme was going to stay secret after something this huge. Several major cities already lay in ruins. Senior personnel were handed their evacuation orders. _

_Sam moved through the thronging hallway, towards the elevator to the surface. When she found him, he was directing human traffic, head and shoulders above most of the other airmen. His hair was a mess and she could tell from his leather jacket thrown on over air force T shirt and sweatpants that he hadn't bothered to dress. Reaching him she handed him the fax; office of the president letterhead at the top of the page; which he scanned briefly before continuing to shout orders._

_The Prometheus swooped low over the streets of Cincinnati. As the bay doors slid apart, the sheer devastation of the suburbs shocked her. _

_Troops spilled from the mouth of the ship; some laying down cover fire against the continuing glider attacks while the rest, ushered terrified civilians toward the Prometheus and checked the scattered bodies for survivors._

_Sam's ears rang as a squad of F-302s careered from the docking bays, over their heads. She moved as quickly as she could, awkwardly supporting an injured woman, with an arm around her waist, until another airman took the womans arm to help her up onto the ramp._

_'Carter!' She turned toward the voice; enough to see approaching energy weapon fire. Hurling herself to the side, she landed on the ground and rolled over away from the smoldering remains of the doorway she had been stood beside. Her radio crackled._

_'Colonel O'Neill, we have to go now! Another hit will finish the hyper drive. We've already taken heavy damage and we're sitting ducks here!'_

_Sam rushed to the colonel's side. He knelt over a teenage boy; pressing a sodden bundle of cloth over the hole in his side. Blood oozed between the his fingers and looking at the boy's white face, Sam was amazed he was still alive._

_'Carter, take him, I have to check the houses.' Sam pressed her hands over his on the cloth and moved to slide her arm around the boy's back while the colonel pulled his hands out and turned away from them. _

_'Don't leave me!' The strangled cry stopped both officers dead. Jack turned back to the blood soaked child now laying in Carter's arms and a shadow passed over his eyes._

_'I have to-- Here-' He shrugged the leather jacket off his shoulders and laid it over the boy's torso and Sam's arms before disappearing. Sam ran with the boy, up the ramp into the back of the ship, where she passed him off to a medic, Jack's coat still covering him. _

_'All units, pulling out!' Sam span back to the doors, which were now sliding closed. There was a roar as the engines started beneath their feet._

_'No...' She scanned the people in the hold. 'Wait!' Running towards the doors, she was determined to somehow stop them from closing. She watched the people left on the street as they lay or ran forward, but the ship was rising. 'Colonel!' He was nowhere. 'Colonel!' She reached for the door controls to stop them, but strong arms closed around her and she was lifted bodily by the bulky SF, who hauled her away from the the doors and only released her once the doors had hissed closed._

_End Flashback_

Sam let out an anguished gasp, dropping her head and driving her fingers into her hair. She knew what it meant to be clinically depressed. To live a life void of hope. Constantly drowning in the feeling of emptiness. The loneliness always trying to pull your head beneath the surface,where you couldn't breathe.

The only way to fight it was to keep your head above. Never to let the brief moments when the pain slips through the cracks in your wall, so carefully built to keep it at bay, to take you over. Because if you allow it to consume you, even for a moment, it becomes almost impossible to fight your way back into control. And she couldn't afford to lose control._ "There are people depending on us"_

**AN It took me several months to write this chapter to my satisfaction so that is how long I will spend on the next chapter too. I want to finish _The Great Outdoors_ first. I don't mean to be mean and keep you waiting, but having finished this chapter I wanted to get it out there and see how it was received so...thoughts please?**

**prometheus246**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Okay Chapter 2 is up. Oooh it's angsty people. And there's a surprise. It didn't make for happy writing but I hope you enjoy it...**_

Chapter 2

'Barney, here.' She tossed the gloves up to him and he nodded his thanks. Sam crouched again beside the tool box, laying open on the grass. She fished around inside, lifting the top layer away until she found the spirit level she was searching for. She held it in her teeth as she shimmied back up the ladder. Barney already had the gloves and face mask on and was focused in the welding. Sam had to scoot round him to reach the other side of the tank, where she set to marking the locations of the remaining panels on the steel.

That done, she sat on top of the bunker and scanned the vista. The river ran out of the forest uphill to her right, down a couple of steps before it widened out on the flat ground. This was were it flooded in the wetter seasons and where now, Amy Hardy was teaching a group of kindergarten age children about the animals that lived in the water. The water wheel spun lazily on it's axis, water dripping from each level back into the river. The river dropped down again and narrowed as it approached the point some two hundred yards away where the land dropped away vertically for about sixty feet, taking the river with it and throwing up a glittering mist. Sam rubbed the back of her neck, gingerly. It was amazing the things you took for granted. Like sunblock. That was going to sting for a few days.

Apart from the top of the cliff behind her building, this was Sam's favourite view on this planet. It looked best in bright sunlight, like today and was also best viewed from the top of the one of the water tanks. Obviously, with small children regularly playing or washing in the river, it was dangerous to leave the top of the waterfall open. A grille had been built from the bottom of the river and rose about two feet from the surface at the edge of the cliff, to catch any toddlers who may have been whisked down by the stronger current.

'Finished.' She looked over her shoulder. Barney was pulling the mask off as he handed her the welding torch.

'Ok. There's three more to do on this side, but I think we can leave those until tomorrow. He nodded. And held out a hand to help her back across to the ladder side of the tank. Always the gentleman. Barney had been brought up in a time when chivalry was alive and kicking.

As they strolled back across the grass toward the compound. Sam broached the subject she had been dreading mentioning.

'Barney, you're sure you don't need anybody to help you out here? I know you're perfectly capable but maybe just to lighten you're workload a couple of days a week...at least during the summer, when things are busy.' she added, hoping to win him over with reason.

'I can manage ma'am. No need to take people away from other work.'

'I know Barney, but we have a couple of people who haven't got much to do. If you could make use of them they'd be happy to help.' The old man did not even glance at her as he walked.

'I appreciate it but I prefer to work alone.' He said no more, but Sam knew that he only preferred to work alone_ now._ Kenny's death had hit Barney harder than anyone and since then, he had been much more introverted, rarely speaking to anybody. Always polite but never going out of his way to make conversation. Sam nodded. She understood, probably better than anyone. She preferred to work alone now too.

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'Good day?'

'Not bad.'

'I didn't see you at lunch.'

'I was working.'

'Saaam.' She looked up from the report she was reading. Daniel was looking across the table at her beseechingly. She smiled.

'Emma brought us some sandwiches.' She assured him. He nodded filling his coffee again and Sam pushed her own mug across the table to him. Daniel grinned.

'Trying to beat me?'

'No Daniel, we both know you're champion of the galaxy when it comes to coffee drinking.' She watched as he took a deep gulp then gagged as the scalding liquid hit his throat. 'It's hot.' She told him, deadpan. Daniel nodded, his eyes screwed shut.

'Thanks.' he took several deep breaths. 'What are you reading?'

'It's the latest from the medical research guys.'

'Any good news?'

'Not really but I'll need to speak with them anyway. How's Prometheus?' Daniel had been placed in charge of the ongoing efforts to retrieve anything and everything useful from the wrecked ship. Until a few weeks ago, they had not risked sending people too far inside. The ship was on its side, with at least half of it's bulk below ground and the internal structure was severely damaged. Five years ago, several people had been badly injured climbing from the wreckage, with essentials and casualties to maneuver. Now, Sam was determined to retrieve more medical equipment, since what had happened to Kenny. She refused to have more people die from simple accidents, which should be easily treated, just because they were ill-equipped to fight infection. It was ridiculous.

The shift in priorities had been supported by most, but unpopular among some of the military personnel. Sam had moved workers from excavating the glider bays to clearing a safe path through the ruined corridors of prometheus and others from fixing up the glider they did have to hunting for plants which may have medicinal properties.

Sam had ignored the gossip but it seemed that some of the more revenge-focused individuals, who had so far supported her slow but steady approach to becoming a fully armed and combat ready colony now seemed to think that she had gone soft or else lost her nerve. There were one or two individuals who had been crewmen on prometheus under Major Metburn, that worried her.

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Later, Sam sat with several members of the research teams in the otherwise empty commissary building. The was an uncomfortable silence, filled with the hissing of the lamp in the centre of the table and the usual ambient noises of the other members of the compound settling in for the night.

'I'm just saying, maybe we can spare a few people from the retrieval team and put them back on the excavation of the 302s. We could have the second one out within a fortnight if we had enough people to work two shifts. It's going half as slow as it should be.' Captain Latham leaned across the table toward Sam, jabbing the metal surface with an index finger. Sam regarded him coolly. She had heard the same argument several times over the last few weeks and her response was exactly as it had been the first time these objections had been raised. The glider's could wait. Before she could reply though, Daniel came to her defense.

'Look Latham, we all know where you stand on this, but you know the priority is on getting what we need from the ship _safely._ We have nearly cleared a viable path to the infirmary. Once we're sure that we can get what we need without people getting hurt, the extra personnel will be relocated to other areas.'

'Yeah, they'll probably be sent out into the mountains looking for magic mushrooms.' Latham sneered.

Daniel made to speak again but Sam cut across him, keeping a tight reign on her anger.

'Right now, we don't _need _the 302s, ok? We _need_ to be able to support ourselves here, illness is a serious problem that we face and it's immediate.'

'Maybe we wouldn't need to scavenge for herbs if we could find other survivors from Earth.'

'Do you have any idea of the likelihood of finding _anybody_ out here, let alone more people from Earth? Without a Stargate...' The captain made no response. 'It could take years. For starters, we don't just need the 302s. We need to fix them, we need the naquadah to fuel them. That takes time.'

'Maybe we should send people looking for naquadah then, instead of leaves.' Sam had a hard time believing the guy's ignorance.

'We've run tests for naquadah. If there was any nearby, the results would have shown it.'

Latham sat back and muttered like a sulking child. Sam ignored him and turned her attention back to Daniel. 'How long do you think it'll take, to have a safe route to and from the infirmary?' Daniel had been staring at Latham with distaste but stopped to answer her question.

'We waiting on a couple of supports to reinforce the damaged sections of the interior. We can't risk transporting equipment, until everything is clear and properly patched up. At least a couple of weeks.'

'Ok.' Sam pushed back from the table and stood. 'Until then, everybody continue as planned and please keep regular reports coming either directly to me, or through Daniel.' The room filled with mumbled conversations as people got up to leave.

Sam zipped her jacket as she walked out into the wind, ready for a good long sleep in a warm bed, neither of which she expected to get. She had taken only a few strides when somebody called after her. She groaned, knowing who was jogging up behind her.

'Major.'

'Captain.'

'Ma'am I just want you to hear me out. We have lost almost a half of the excavation task force. How are we ever supposed to make it off this rock if all we ever do is 'support ourselves?' he quoted with his fingers. Sam's irritation finally got the best of her. The man just didn't understand.

'Where do you wanna go Latham!? The next rock? You have to realise that this may actually be where we are going to live from now on. _Maybe_ at some point in the future, we'll have the resources to search the _whole_ galaxy for survivors, but right now, that's just not possible.'

'No and it never will be if you don't take our needs seriously!'

'You're out of line _captain_.'

'Really? Who's going to court marshal me?' Sam turned away, hating that part of her agreed with him.

'I'm not having this conversation.' She began to walk again, in the direction of her quarters, leaving Latham looking disdainfully after her.

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Sam was ripped from sleep so abruptly that for a second she could not understand where she was. Then the chaos hit home. She sat breathing heavily in bed while outside, there were shouts, running footsteps, the despairing sound of children crying and, overlying it all, the long repetitive wail of an alarm. _Holy shit._

Nearly falling out of bed, Sam barely pulled on pants before fleeing the room, grabbing a jacket in passing and stumbling barefoot out of the door into the cold midnight. Everywhere people were running. Men in fatigues threw zats and handguns from one to the other. The double door to the scant armoury was pulled wide open and was almost empty. A sergeant arrived at her elbow from the telemetry post.

'Major, we got a proximity alert three minutes ago. Glider's in orbit! We have to evac.'

Parents stood looking terrified, clinging to children's hands, who stood small and uncomprehending in the midst of the panic. The sights and sounds rushed at her and she was taken back, light years away to Earth and a street in down town Cincinnati.

Crossing the gap at a sprint, Sam reached the armoury, lifting a P-90 from the hands of a waiting marine, throwing the strap over her head. Everywhere was beams of light in blackness and it made her dizzy.

'This way!' She shouted but above the noise, very few heard her. Rounding on the soldiers around the doors, most of whom seemed not to know what to do with themselves now that they were armed, 'Get these people into the forest. Move uphill to the RV point. Try to keep everyone together!'

There was nodding and the bulk of the group dispersed; ushering frozen civilians toward the river. Sam watched the first people filter into the trees and spun back to the remaining airmen. 'Arm yourselves. Check the buildings. We can't leave anybody behind! Where's Daniel?' Her mind buzzed, and the wail of the alarm seemed to get louder in her ears with every passing second.

'He went to the river to get Barney.' Adrenaline hit her in the gut. There were now only several small groups of stragglers left, looking around for someone to tell them what to do, or for missing loved ones.

'Ok, get the last ones to the RV. Don't stop, we'll meet you up there. Go, _go!_'

Sam started ushering families toward the tree line. Marines and army corp took over, shouting orders to get people moving. There was a shout as one boy detached himself and tried to run back towards his home. Sam caught the boy around the waist, dropping him in the arms of the nearest officer.

'Carrick, stay with me, the rest of you move!'

One of the young airmen ran back to the centre of the now empty colony. 'Help me check the last of these buildings, I'm going to get the alarm.' She left at a run,across the freezing ground eventually shouldering open the door of the telemetry post Sam thumped her pass code into the computer with vehemence. Th screen flashed a cursory message and the alarm died, leaving the compound now frighteningly quiet. She could her the blood in her ears.

She arrived back outside the armoury and saw Carrick waiting for her, back in the darkness of the trees. Skirting the backs of buildings, she joined him. 'This way.' She nodded toward the river.

'But Ma'am—'

'We need to try and meet up with Daniel and Barney.'

'Yes.' He sounded dazed but followed her along the rough ground towards the sound of rushing water. Sam pounded ahead, her bare feet getting cut up on sticks. At the river, she stared around, searching vainly for any sign of the two men. She groped in the pockets of her pants for her radio, praying to god that it was there. She fumbled, pulling it out and in her panic, shouting much louder than was necessary.

'Daniel! Daniel, do you read?' The silence that followed was horrible, but to her enormous relief his concerned voice came back clearly through the speaker.

'Sam, where are you?'

'By the river. Did you get Barney?'

'Yeah we caught up with the people heading up to the cave.'

'Ok Daniel, we're on our way. Carter out.'

They set off at a frantic pace, catching up with the last of the people who had left the compound. Sam nodded at Daniel but made no attempt at further conversation. All their attentions were taken up with keeping the scared and tired group moving. Sam silently thanked the gods that they had been prepared for this as they heard the unmistakable sound of gliders passing low over the trees.

By the time they reached the RV cave, which was almost hidden under centuries of plant growth and made sure that everybody they had arrived with was inside, Sam called for headcounts of each household. Nobody was missing, a small miracle.

Several hours of waiting passed. There was no sign of change outside the cave besides the growing light. Allan eased himself down to the ground beside Sam.

'Do you think they'll be any ground troops?'

'Probably. There's no chance they won't see the compound. But if they think it's been uninhabited for a while then they may not search the area. On the other hand, they might. Honestly though, even if they leave everything untouched - the fact that they've bothered to investigate this planet once suggests that they'll come again.'

'I know.'

'It's stupid. After five years with nothing, I'd kind of started to hope we were ok. You know?' Her voice caught. 'I really don't think I can manage if we have to start all over again.'

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After two days, Daniel and a couple of marines, armed themselves to the hilt and made their way back down the hill to the compound as evening fell.

The remaining military personnel unconsciously migrated to the front of the cave and stood in huddles, staring downward through the mossy trunks and talking very little. Sam sat a little way back, radio in hand, wincing as Allan replaced the bandages on her feet. Behind her, the two women who ran the commissary handed out energy bars from a store which had been brought up here five years ago and kept along with blankets and basic medical supplies.

'It's fine Allan leave it.'

'It's not fine. Your feet are a mess. I can't believe you came up here barefoot.'

'Well fine footwear wasn't the first thing on my mind.' Allan rolled his eyes. Sam's mood had barely risen above 'civil' in the time they had been up here.

_'Sam?' _She lifted the radio and hit the speak button.

'Yeah Daniel?' She bit her lip and stared around at the scores of apprehensive people watching her. There was absolute silence within the cave.

'We're all clear.' There was a collective sigh and for the first time in two days, some smiles appeared among the faces.

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Returning to the compound was not as happy an occasion as it could have been. As the first members emerged from the woods and moved nervously into the open, some cries of dismay rippled through the multitude as the damage became apparent.

The water wheel lay at an angle, jutting out from the water, twisted and burnt. Several houses had been flattened by casual glider fire and from the telemetry post to the far left of the compound, black smoke still rose slowly as the electronics inside continued to smoulder.

They gathered, through general consent in the almost untouched commissary, where Emma and Jules managed to make enough soup to go around. The mood was at best grim. Sam sat and avoided eye contact with any of the others around her. She felt a painful mixture of guilt, shame and fear. Even Daniel was much less able to make cheerful conversation than usual.

Sam drained her soup and leaned back against the wall, her eyes shut. She would do anything to not be here, or at least to not be responsible for all these people and this place. It was too much. She had used to think that her job at the SGC was demanding. At least then she was happy. Content. In control.

She drifted away from the oppressing surroundings of the steel building that still rattled in the light wind until she was sat on a bench in the park in Colorado springs. She was wearing her own clothes and her feet did not ache. Daniel sat beside her, with unbroken glasses and long hair. Behind her was Teal'c. Strong and familiar and wearing another of his unusual hats. Jack strode towards her with a puppy in his arms, smiling as Cassie ran to meet him.

'Sam.' She jumped. Emma was reaching for her mug, Sam passed it up to her, shaking her head clear. 'Ma'am? There are people who don't have anywhere to sleep. Should they stay here?'

'Yeah. If we keep the stove going, it should be warm enough.'

'Okey doke.'

Sam stood up and made her way around the edge of the room toward the door. She needed sleep. They all did, but she needed to be alone. An angry voice called out.

'Of course, if we'd had a couple of gliders, we may all have a place to sleep tonight and wouldn't have spent the last two days hiding in a hole in the ground!' She stopped but did not look around. She couldn't deal with this now. Muttering had spread throughout the room.

'Maybe. But we don't have any working gliders do we Latham?' She put her hand on the door.

'And whose fault is that!?' He was shouting now and she stopped again.

'I—'

'Hey!' The focus of the group switched to Allan who was on his feet, face red with anger. 'I don't really think it's your place to question Sam's decisions. She got everyone to safety.'

Latham scoffed.

'She's got us hiding in caves! We should be defending ourselves!'

Sam faced him, furious.

'We are talking about _children_ Latham! What are they supposed to do? People would _die!'_

'Not if you did what was needed to arm ourselves properly!' He pointed an accusatory finger at Sam, breathing heavily. Several people had piped up by now, defending Sam but the furious captain paid no attention. He continued to glare at her.

'I don't have to listen to this. Allan was right. It's not your decision.' She turned her back on him but had barely set foot out of the door when she was hauled back by her jacket and nearly fell backwards onto the floor. Cries of outrage rose form the people gathered in the room and several stood abruptly from their seats. Acting on instinct, Sam had spun, dislodging Latham's grip on her and faced him, prepared to defend herself. It was unnecessary though as Daniel had stepped in front of her and spoke with more authority than Sam had ever heard him use.

'You need to leave and calm yourself down.' Daniel was alarmed by the manic expression on the man's face. It became obvious that the man was beyond being reasoned with. He laughed, grabbing Daniel by the shirt.

'I won't take orders from you. Your not in the military. You only have any authority here because she's made you her lapdog!' He jutted his chin at Sam and tightened his hold on Daniel but Sam had seen enough. She moved around and caught hold of Latham's wrist, prising his fingers off of Daniel. It was a mistake. With a yell, Latham released his hold and hit Sam full in the jaw, causing her to cry out in shock and pain.

There was a rush of movement and noise as the observers in the room who had so far not gotten involved moved forward as one. As Sam recovered from her surprise, Daniel had thrown himself against Latham's chest and pushed him back several paces into the waiting arms of two airmen who had leapt forward when Sam had been hit and now pinned the captain between them on the ground, his face pressed into the hard rock.

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Daniel quietly pushed open the door to Sam's office and crossed to the door into her room. He knocked softly.

'Sam?'

'Come in.' He entered cautiously. Sam sat on the bed in a clean tank top and pants, though she looked exhausted and a vivid red bruise was formed on her right cheek.

'How are you?'

'Peachy.' He laughed drolly at her Jack choice of words. She smiled ruefully. 'I'm sure he would have done a much better job at handling this than me.'

'Getting punched?' he asked, eyebrow raised, but she didn't laugh.

'All of it.' She waved toward the door, indicating 'out there.'

'You've done an incredible job here Sam. The fact that a hundred and fifty people are lining up to put Latham's lights out is testament to that.' She nodded non-committally. 'He's been confined to quarters and he's under guard.' Another nod. 'What are you going to do with him?'

Sam stood up and ran her hands through her hair.

'I have no idea.'

'Well you don't have to decide now.' Sam nodded again, biting her lip. She looked on the verge of tears, her eyes wide and helpless. Daniel searched for something to say that would help. Jack would have known exactly what to do. Sam it seemed, had read his mind.

'I just miss him Daniel.'

Reaching out he put an arm round her shoulders and pulled her to him., where she buried her face against his chest, chocking down the sobs that threatened to break free. She clenched her fists around handfuls of his shirt.

'I know you do Sam, I do too.' He hugged her more tightly, his cheek resting against the top of his head. 'I know he'd hate for you to feel like this.' he felt her nod, her hair brushing against his face. He held onto her as his words began to affect her and she gave way to the tears, letting them stream down her face and dampen his shirt. He was sure that finally letting herself cry would do her the world of good.

After several long minutes, she felt she had cried herself out and stayed snuggled against Daniel's safe warmth. What would she ever have done without him? Wonderful dependable Daniel. She rubbed her cheek against him and apologised for wetting his shirt, but he brushed her apology aside. He stood back a little to look into her face., drying her eyes.

Sam watched his serious eyes as he dried her face. His expression was warm and loving and she found herself leaning close to his lips as he gazed at her damp cheeks. His breath dusted her mouth and she stretched her neck to capture his lips. The kiss lasted only a few seconds. Her eyes drifted closed as Daniel gently nipped her lip between his. They broke away slowly and a brief idea passed between the sets of blue eyes. _Comfort me._

Within moments, Sam had walked Daniel backwards until he met the wall and pressed close, kissing him with wild abandon. Daniel responded in kind, burying his fingers in Sam's short hair and making her moan against his mouth.

Her hands made their way boldly under his shirt, to press against his stomach, while Daniel brazenly explored the dips and curves of Sam's body, through her T Shirt.

Between them, they had almost removed Sam's shirt, still pressing wantonly against one another, before Long limbs, silver hair and deep brown eyes filled Sam's mind and she leapt away from Daniel, as though stung by an electric current.

In a moment of awkward silence, both realised what they had almost done. A whimper escaped Sam's lips while and she covered her face with her hands, hurriedly trying to redress herself. Daniel watched silently. She looked terrified.

He wasn't doing so good himself. His mind was in turmoil. They had been acting on an identical desire – comfort. But now he couldn't believe he had taken advantage of that. Had they both wanted the same thing? They were both upset and confused. It would have been a big, huge mistake. Stupid.

Sam had sunk onto the edge of her bed, and managed to summon the strength to take her hands from her face. Daniel stood against the wall, clothes a mess, face a distant mask. What the hell had she been thinking? How could she even have thought of using him that way? She needed Daniel, but not like that. He would have woken in the morning completely guilt ridden and it would have been her fault.

'Daniel?'

'Yeah.'

'I'm sorry. I-shouldn't have done that to you. It wasn't fair.'

'No Sam, don't worry. It was just one of those daft things you know? We're both pretty on edge right now. You didn't do anything wrong.'

'Right.' She nodded uncomfortably. 'One of those things.'

'I should go.' He fixed his shirt and lifted his jacket from the lid of the trunk, not looking at her, he turned toward the door.

'No wait!' She sprang up from the bed, terrified of letting him leave like this. 'I have to know we're ok.' She caught hold of his arm and he finally looked her in the face. 'I can't run this place without you Daniel. I need to know I haven't fucked that up.' She was begging him now, tears in her eyes again. He smiled.

'Sam.' he sighed. It was ridiculous for her to think that she could possibly do anything to ruin what they had. He wrapped his arms around her again and she hung on. 'Of course you haven't fucked it up. We're stuck with each other.' He told her laughing.

She laughed into his shoulder, and stood back.

'So you'll be here in the morning to drag me kicking and screaming to breakfast?' She grinned.

'I'll see you then. Get some sleep.' He kissed her cheek and left. Sam lay down and feel asleep almost instantly, dog-tired as she was.

**AN Ok BEFORE you start sending hate mail and letter bombs barricades self behind desk This is NOT a Sam/Daniel fic. I am NOT a Sam/Daniel shipper. There is nothing between these two but a close friendship which is intrinsic to who they both are. I'm sure you agree. However, these two people are both currently, very lonely and lost and depend almost entirely on each other. What happened was a result of that and their strong feelings of friendship for each other. It's almost inevitable that they would turn to each other for comfort, whatever form that comfort may take. Don't kill me? Cause there's only three chapters left and then you wouldn't get to find out how it ends... ;)**

**prometheus246**


	3. Chapter 3

_Apologies for the long delayed update – who would have thought university would be such hard work!? =P This chapter was going to be much longer and go a lot further. However, I'm having to alter some major plot points and the later bits to make them fit with where I want this to go but I wanted to post what I had done so here it is - enjoy!_

Chapter 3

'It only appeared twice?' Daniel frowned sceptically at the squiggles repeated several times on the galvanised computer screen, three or four technicians crowded behind him while he scrutinised the readout.

'Dead sure. We've run dozens of scans since we caught it yesterday but there's been nothing else.' Major Marks moved past Daniel to resume his usual seat in front of the monitor, pulling up the scans taken over the last twenty four hours. 'There have been no transmissions on this frequency since those first ones.' From the tangible excitement in the room, Daniel guessed there was something else. He raised his eyebrows.

'Well? What is it?'

Marks grinned, turning back to the computer and typing as he spoke. 'I thought you'd never ask!' A message flashed across the screen. _ANALYSING SIGNAL _and then, _MATCH FOUND. _A record page popped up which Daniel recognised as one of the files downloaded from the Prometheus' database. _IDC RECOGNISED: SG-1_ 'This was SG-1's GDO code at the time of the invasion. Obviously it's not been changed since then.' The major paused and seemed to be trying to take a breath large enough to contain his next revelation. 'Somebody could be trying to contact us.' Daniel looked the man in the eye for several seconds then looked around the small office at the others, seeing hope reflected back from every face.

'I'll call Sam back.'

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Sam was elbow deep in a stack of old medical equipment on the side of the mountain when Daniel's voice buzzed through her radio. Alan helpfully unclipped it from her jacket and handed it over as soon as Sam had both hands free.

Taking the radio, smiled her thanks as she listened while Daniel filled her in on the new development. Sam and Daniel exchanged a brief Q and A until, satisfied, she signed off, telling Daniel she would be back by the end of the day. Allan raised his eyebrows.

'You'll have to move pretty quickly to get back to base before it gets dark Sam.'he told her. He had heard enough of the conversation over the radio to know how eager Sam would be to get back down the mountain. Sam only nodded, clipping the radio back onto her jacket. She glanced up at the two other members of the medical team who had accompanied them.

'Will you three be alright?'

Michael gave her a swift smile. 'We've got enough here to occupy us for a couple of days.'

'I'll let you know when I know what's going on.'

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Sam knew when she arrived back at the compound at least an hour after it had gotten dark that Daniel would be worrying. She found him waiting for her between the building that housed both their quarters and her office and the tiny communications building opposite.

As she crossed the open space between them, Sam made an effort to hide her grimace of discomfort. She had at least a couple of pulled muscles from her swift jog down the mountain. Daniel was smiling serenely when she arrived.

'What took you so long?' he asked her.

'It's been two and half hours Daniel. I didn't want to break a leg coming down that wretched hill.'

Daniel held up a hand placatingly 'Sam, I'm kidding.' He grinned. 'You wanna see this?' he asked, gesturing to the comms building behind him, knowing full well that Sam couldn't wait to see what they'd found.

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An hour later, Sam sat at the table in her brightly lit office with Daniel, discussing for the first time in several years, the possibility that they might not be as alone as they had thought. It was nearing the middle of the night when Daniel stood to leave mumbling about wanting to enjoy a last night in his own bed. Sam laughed, thinking how bizarre it was that an archaeologist turned space-explorer could be so picky about where he slept.

'Daniel, I know we couldn't narrow the signal down much but we won't be away long. If we don't find the source within a few days then we'll scratch the mission and head back. She stood and stretched. Daniel looked worried. 'What?' she asked.

'Nothing. You'll just have to be careful about how you handle this Sam. Word's gotten around. It's SG-1's signal!' He threw his hands wide to emphasise the enormity of the fact. 'If you throw in the towel too soon, people are not gonna take it gladly.'

Sam felt anger heat her face. People had grown excited like this over the retrieval of the F-302. What they had failed to grasp was that the amount of naquadah they had managed to produce would provide little more than a short one-way hop to the nearest moon _or_ provide a few seconds of life from the hyperspace generator. In other words, useless.

Faced with this realisation and the fallout out from the glider attack, Sam had made the decision to focus on basics, medical and defensive requirements.

'I'm not going to waste valuable time and resources on what could be a wild goose chase Daniel!' he raised his hands defensively. Sam sighed and closed her eyes. 'Sorry Daniel, I' don't mean to keep snapping at you.' She stared across at him, considering. 'One week.' she told him. 'That's it, and we can leave a portable transmitter in the area. That should pick up any more unusual signals.'

'Ok, I just wanted to give you fair warning.' He smiled reassuringly.

'I know. Thanks Daniel.' She checked her watch and laughed. 'We really should get some sleep.' He nodded, reaching for the door. 'Daniel,' He turned back. 'I just don't think we should get our hopes up tomorrow.'

Daniel looked back as he was heading out of the door. 'Don't you think it's a bit late for that?'

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Judging by Daniel's red rimmed eyes behind his glasses the following morning, he had slept about as soundly as she had. Twelve hours hiking however, didn't wear out the crazed cycle of thoughts running through Sam's head and the big, thick bottom line: This could all come to nothing. And yet the analytical side of her mind kept telling her that a signal, received on _their_ radio frequency, containing _their_ ID code, simply could not be a fluke. Surely.

The group consisted of five people, including Marks, who was at this moment, in front, checking the receiver in his hand so regularly, he looked like some parody of a wobbly-headed dog. It was darker than usual for the time of day. They had traveled around the base of the familiar hill, and the sun was now low on the opposite side, and though they had walked in deep shadow for several hours now, Sam was reluctant

to give the order to go to ground. Eventually it was Daniel who suggested they call it a day.

Before turning in for the night, Sam spoke to Marks and managed to establish little except that what she already knew: that the signal could have originated from anywhere within a very large area and that they could spend days searching the surrounding forest and still come up empty.

So she bade him goodnight and climbed into her bedroll, taking a long time to fall asleep.

* * * *

The following day was hot. They started early, moving out in different directions, systematically covering the terrain inch by inch. As evening brought cooler temperatures with it, Sam moved the group on another couple of clicks to start afresh in a new region of forest the next day.

It wasn't until early afternoon, a day later, perhaps five or six kilometres from where they'd set up camp three nights ago that they found what they were looking for. The origin of the signal that had caused so much excitement back at the compound stood about 13 feet tall, round, silent and entirely unexpected.

'Sam that's a--'

'I know...'

'Didn't we check the database on _Prometheus _to see if there was a stargate here?'

'We did, there was nothing in the system.' Marks provided. 'But we knew that our database of known stargate locations wasn't anything close to the whole picture.'

'Major Carter!' The call came from behind them and Lieutenant Cullums appeared. 'We've found it ma'am. The DHD's intact.' His smile was infectious.

Sam spent the rest of the day fiddling inside the base of the DHD, trying to find the address of the last incoming wormhole, buried in its subroutines. It should have been a relatively easy job but she was lacking equipment and frankly she was struggling to concentrate. There was a stargate – and SG-1s signal. The thought dizzied her, and it was clearly having the same effect on the others. Nobody could stay still. Marks tried his best to help Sam while Cullums and Reichs prowled around the stargate, as though afraid it would disappear if they took their eyes off it, even for a second. Daniel hovered between the two, apparently at a loss about what to do with himself.

By the time it was two dark to distinguish between different crystals, Sam had reluctantly decided that they would have to return to base in the morning and come back with the proper equipment.

There was much excited discussion before anybody slept that night and it seemed to Sam that she had only just drifted of when she jerked awake again, roused by the confusion going on around her. Cullums was shouting, as the other three men struggled to free themselves from sleeping bags. The clearing was filled with pale light and behind them in the clearing was a dull roar as the seventh chevron locked.

* * * *

Sam watched Daniel fairly bouncing with joy as Colonel O'Neill's voice came over the radio. Catching his involuntary movement towards her radio she laughed, handing it over so that he could respond, which he did speaking at such a pace it was almost impossible to follow what was said.

However it seemed that he had been understood because minutes later, Sam found herself being pulled into the strong arms of Teal'c. Tears stung her eyelids as she hugged him tightly, then pulled back to examine him again. He looked weather-worn and his protective vest was faded and torn but that wasn't the most obvious change.

'I almost didn't recognise you with hair!' Sam grinned up at her friend. He smiled, releasing her and glancing over his shoulder.

'O'Neill has informed me that I resemble Whoopi Goldberg.' For some reason, he seemed pleased about this.

'Hey Carter, how've you been?' Sam looked up, startled to suddenly find the colonel in front of her. Her breath was cut short as she took in all the changes in him. He looked older. His hair longer and grayer and the lines around his eyes deeper than before but he looked at her with such an intensity that she almost forgot how many years had been lost between them. He was a different person now, they both were. She could examine the emotions choking her another time.

'Not too bad Sir.' She held his gaze.

'Glad to hear it.' He pulled her gently to him and she wrapped her arms around him, unwilling to stop the tears stinging her eyelids. He held her tightly for a moment and pulled back smiling. 'So, is this all of you?' He asked, eyeing the cluster of sleeping bags and the rest of the group. Marks offered a casual salute.

'No sir. There's actually quite a few of us. The main compound is a long day's hike from here.' O'Neill's eyebrows creased.

'Why so far from the gate?' Daniel opened his mouth to respond but Sam cut across him.

'We can explain all of that Sir but why don't we start making a move? Then you can see for yourself?'

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Sam spent a lot of the return journey filling the colonel in on their situation. He was openly impressed with what they had managed to achieve given their limited resources and asked question after question, which she answered as best she could, all the time ignoring the questions preying on her own mind. _How was he here? How did he survive when the last time she had seen him she had been certain she was leaving him to die. How had he escaped? _He however, seemed to be carefully avoiding the topic and she wasn't going to be the one to bring it up. It could wait.

Behind them, Daniel and Marks were explaining to Teal'c why they had discovered the gate only days ago. Catching part of the conversation, Jack turned around to Daniel, eyebrows raised.

'So you haven't been off _this_ planet for nearly six years!?'

'No. _Prometheus _is still half crushed. Even now, there are areas of the ship thats it's too dangerous to venture into.'

'That's a shame. There've been plenty of times we could've done with more people in the field.'

'Wait -' Sam stopped walking. 'You've actually been using the gate...to, to what?'

'To do battle with the Goa'uld.' Teal'c supplied. Daniel gaped.

_'_You've been fighting!? But I mean, with _what?_ With_ who?'_

'Well, we haven't exactly been able to do a lot, but we've conducted a few...incursions, been the proverbial pain in Ba'al's ass.'

'We have also been able to gather ongoing information as to the details of Ba'al's operations.' Added Teal'c. Jack grinned at the stunned look on Daniel's face.

'Well, we weren't gonna sit around and do nothing for six years were we?' He clapped Daniel on the shoulder. Daniel caught Sam's eye. She looked away but not before Daniel had seen the momentary hurt in her eyes. She turned and walked on in silence.

By mid afternoon, they were nearing the compound. The trees around them had thinned but those that remained in this region were mainly charred and blackened, scattered branches lay around the uneven ground. The five members of Sam's group were quite used to the site. While they had hidden in the mountains months ago, listening to the distant sounds of glider fire on their homes, the jaffa in command of the attack had ordered the pilots to fire into the trees, hoping to flush out survivors. Sam barely registered the damage as she walked between burned logs but Colonel O'Neill did.

'Carter?' She looked up. 'What's with the trees?' Sam looked confused for a moment.

'Oh! They were hit by glider fire.' She stared around at the scorched landscape.

'And it still looks like this after all this time?'

'No sir, this was done recently. We were hit during the night.' Her voice took on an edge as the bitterness that she always associated with that night returned. It must have shown on her face because the colonel stepped closer, his eyes concerned.

'Nobody was hurt.' She told him 'We were able to make it out. They did a lot of damage but we were fine.' She smiled bleakly at Daniel, who nodded.

'We were very lucky. We had advance warning and a lot of the important resources were retrievable.' He moved on to walk beside Sam and they went the rest of the way in silence.

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Their return to the compound was greeted with shouts of excitement. Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c could barely move as they shook hands with everybody, hands raining down on their backs. Women hugged them with tears dampening their faces, and Jack was struck by the thought of seeing the same joy on the faces of his own people. For years they had dialed gate after gate and finally they had been answered. And by the two people he had missed more than anything else that had been taken from him when Ba'al attacked.

He was struck for a moment by the same fury that had assaulted him for years whenever he remembered the evacuation. He looked over the heads of the crowd to where Carter and Daniel stood to one side. They wore identical grins as they watched the new celebrities, unable to escape the throng that simply didn't want to let them go. Catching Carter's eye he gave her a pleading look but she shrugged, grinning at him. He was on his own. For a moment he just stood and watched her smile. It could wait until later, when the four of them were able to be alone, that he would be able to ask the question praying on his mind.

**AN This chapter is nowhere near as good as I'd like it to be but like I said, the next bit has all the excitement in it. I hope to post chapter 4 over the Christmas break so hopefully not too long to wait. Watch this space and thanks for all your reviews, you guys are awesome!**

**prometheus246**


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